


Almost Beginnings

by NotEvenThat



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Minor Alec Lightwood/Lydia Branwell, Minor Magnus Bane/Camille Belcourt, Neutral Ending, Not exactly happy or sad, Omnipotence, POV Third Person Omniscient, Soulmates, Weird, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 12:33:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8372410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenThat/pseuds/NotEvenThat
Summary: There was a universe in which Magnus and Alec only met once.





	

There was a universe where they only met once.

It was the coldest night that year. Snow was drifting down from the sky lazily, as if it was content with the three feet it had thrown down earlier that day. Windows were covered with fog and frost, cafes teeming with light hoping to drag in the miserable people who were still stuck outside. People trudged by, pulling their jackets close and their belonging even closer. Eyes glances around distrustfully, fragile things were dropped into slush, children were dragged along, cups of coffee and tea were clutched at as if the warmth in the cup could warm everything else.

It was a miserably day for meeting your soulmate.

Maybe that's why it happened. Maybe that's why here, in this universe, they didn't stick. Maybe the snow and the dread covered everything, even the souls of those who were meant to be together, even fate.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. None of that has happened yet.

It will. Don't be mistaken. There is no hope here for another outcome. The future is full of endless possibility but nothing else has happened. Nothing has changed. No one has stepped in. There's no new variable, no reason why this instance would change from the last time it happened.

Alec is still angry. He's still wearing the leather jacket that feels colder than it is. He still yells at the young red-head girl who bumps into him outside the coffee shop (She freezes, looking back as Alec storms away, looking as if she's about to bust into tears. Her mother is in a coma in the hospital three streets over. Ten minutes later, only 30 feet down the road, she will get the phone call that her mother will never wake up. She prays every night for the next three years for her mother to open her eyes, even once, even just for a moment. She never does but we’re not here to watch Clary). No, nothing has changed here.

Magnus is coming now. The makeup around his eyes is still dark, his hair is still perfectly styled, his outfit still perfectly in place like armor protecting him from the cold, from the harsh light of the street lamps as he walks by, even from Alec who takes one look at him and decides he's too disgustingly put together to be a real person. Magnus is in an even worse mood than Alec. He still glares at the boy who walks by him, the one who reminds him too much of Ragnor to ever get a more polite greeting. He still curses at the people across the street who were simply too happy on such an awful night. He still glares when Alec crashes into him.

But that's two minutes from now. They’re still nine feet away from each other, still too far to spot each other had they known to try and look through the people in front of them (they don't, of course). Alec is still too far away to hear Magnus as he yells at the people across the street (Raphael is there. Magnus and him haven't met yet and they don't recognize each other when they finally do a year later but Raphael is there. He watches, half drunk with Lily and Elliot as Alec and Magnus meet for the first and only time. He watches with mild interest before turning to get another drink, never thinking of it again).

Then they’re in front of each other. Neither of them look up. Alec reaches for his phone as it starts to ring in his pocket (Jace is calling him. This is the night that he broke his foot trying to impress some girls who names aren't important to this story and whose names certainly aren’t important to you. He calls Isabelle when Alec doesn't answer the second time). Magnus is moving to put his hands in his pockets, the frostbite at his fingertips finally breaking through the angry cloud in his head, forcing him to realize just how cold he is.

The hit each other and it's just as chaotic as it always has been.

Alec stumbles back, his phone flying from his hands into the icy puddle below them. Magnus stands firm and his gaze snaps up to watch as Alec stumbles backwards. The child next to them is pulled back by her mother, who doesn't even spare them a glance before she's dragging her child along again. There's a moment of silence. Alec stares at his phone as it sinks deeper into the puddle at Magnus’ feet and Magnus glares at Alec as he feels the water sinking through his jeans. After a moment Alec lunges forward, snatching his phone out of the puddle with desperate haste. His phone flashes for a second, showing the picture of him and Jace on his birthday last year (this is the last time anyone ever sees that picture. When Alecs phone dies a moment later the photo and all the other photos on it die too. No one thinks to miss them until a couple of months later when they desperately search for images of Max, clinging to proof of the life no longer with them).

Alec turns to Magnus, meeting his gaze with the same amount of anger. No one is to blame here but, of course, today is not the day of rational meetings, nor will it ever be. Alec blames the man in front of him for breaking his phone, for the dreadful chill around them, for everything wrong with this week and Magnus does the same, though neither of them say it out loud. Neither of them have to.

Alec clenches his wet fists at his sides, one clenching the cold shell of a phone in his hand and he moves back likes he's going to punch Magnus.

Magnus blinks, watching the man in front of him move, not reacting in the slightest.

Maybe if Alec actually punched him it would break whatever hateful moment they were having. Maybe Alec would punch him and instantly realize the horror of what he’d just done, that he’d just punched a stranger over a cell phone he didn't like anyway. Maybe Alec would rush forward and apologies, bring Magnus to the hospital three streets over where they would both have enough time to calm down and realize how beautiful the stranger next to them was.

Alec doesn't punch him though. He never does.

He drops his fist and stares at Magnus, just starting to debate apologizing when Magnus moves. He shoves Alec aside with enough cruelty that all thoughts of apologizing fly from Alec's mind.

Alec doesn't stumble this time. His anger flares up and he pushes Magnus back with all the force of from truly awful week and he storms by not looking back once.

Magnus pauses, just like he has every other time before and he turns to watch Alec stalk off, realizing six seconds too late that he should have just apologized. Magnus dwells on it for a moment, he thinks of chasing the stranger to apologies but the man is already at the end of the street. It would be insane to follow him just to apologies for an eight second encounter neither of them will remember in a week from now. After a moment, Magnus keeps walking.

There are many moments where they almost meet again. Once Alec is buying a bouquet of flowers that are far too bright for the funeral he has to attend. He grabs the orchids and walks out of the flower shop just before Magnus walks in. Had it taken a few seconds longer in the shop, had Alec dropped his card or even just hesitated for a moment he would have been walking out at just the right moment to hold the door open open for Magnus. Magnus would have noticed the tears in Alecs eyes and they would have walked out together. That doesn't happen here though. Instead Alec goes home and cries for the next few hours before he goes to Max’s funeral, where he stands next to Jace not registering a thing the whole time. Magnus clutches a boutique of flowers and makes his way back to Camille's apartment where he spends the next two years in a relationship that takes everything from him.

Another time Magnus is leaving the Pandemonium. He stumbles out the door and makes his way down the darkened street, tripping over his feet every few seconds. Alec is only a street over. He's making his way onto the street Magnus is on, about to cut through the alleyway that will lead him directly to the others side, where he will walk Magnus home, clutching his warm hand and laughing at the beautiful accent coming out of the intoxicated mans mouth. Jace calls him though. Just as he's starting down the alleyway. He catches a glimpse of someone at the other end of the alleyway before he answers the phone, immediately leaving to pick Jace up somewhere across town.

They pass each other in the supermarket. Magnus checks Alec favorite book in the library but walks away too quickly for Alec to tell him so. Magnus drops the receipt to his order at starbucks and Alec steps on it a few minutes later. Alec holds Lydia's hand as they walk by each other. Camille toys with the ring Magnus bought her as she flirts with someone in front of Alec at the post office.

They have many chances to meet again but I told you when we started here that they only met once. There are many universes where things line up perfectly and they fall in love. Somewhere they grow old together, some where they have children, some where they die young, somewhere they possess immense powers, somewhere their lives touch only for a blissful moment before being ripped away from each other again.

This is not one of them. Im sure you were expecting this to wrap up nicely, for there to be some twist in the timeline to make everything turn out alright in the end. For them to turn and meet each other at the last second. Maybe even for me to step in but thats not how this works. Theres a million other universes that have a more satisfying ending than this one. Go find one of those. 

I have nothing else to offer you.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. Thats it folks.  
> I was sitting down to write a couple oneshots about Magnus and Alec meeting but.. There has to be a few universes in which they never meet. In which they're so close to each other every time and they just.. Keep walking.


End file.
